I was out riding today and a car driver objected to my presence on Red
River, blaring his horn and missing me by inches. At the stop sign the car
slewed right into the bike lane to cut me off, parked, and the drive got out
to ‘discuss’ my riding - on Red River, in the marked bike lane - with me.
I idled until his intentions were clear, then rode forward and dismounted,
seat in front.
Guess where the wheel hit him.
It got worse for him after that, you really don’t want to know…
But if I was a nice person, after that very useful dismount I could have
remounted and ridden away without pursuit. I wonder if John Drummond would
be interested in advertising that use for the 36" wheel?
–
Make a searching and fearless moral self-inventory. Admit to yourself and
to another human the exact nature of your wrongs. List the people you have
harmed. Make direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to
do so would injure them or others. Continue to take personal inventory and
when wrong promptly admit it.
Jagur, you’re crazy. You c’ant (m_extreme_uni reference) be serious? The Coker is a crucial element of unicycling, can’t you appreciate it’s worth? You and your Profile cranks, beat the feet!
What if the guy had a knife or a gun? I would have ridden past him or avoided him. There’s no telling what kind of crazy person was behind the wheel. Who needs that kind of aggravation anyways.
breathingmurder wrote:
> I want to know how it got worse for him too!!
> -Isaac
You know, I had a similar conversation with Christa at a sushi bar once.
She’s vegetarian, but tolerant of carnivores, obviously, else she wouldn’t
date me. Werner mentioned the existence of certain extreme and illegal
sushi practices and I shushed him. Christa asked me what was up and I told
her she didn’t want to know. She insisted…
You can cut a lot of meat off a cow before it dies.
She cried so hard we had to leave the restaurant.
You don’t want to know.
–
Make a searching and fearless moral self-inventory. Admit to yourself
and to another human the exact nature of your wrongs. List the people
you have harmed. Make direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others. Continue to take
personal inventory and when wrong promptly admit it.
Yes, as one who loves violence and cruelty, I agree. Scott is my hero, too. Scott, when I am settled in my new location I will contact you. Would you like a job inflicting pain on others? I can arrange in advance for them to menace you so you wont have to feel any unnecessary guilt.
SaddamHussein wrote:
> carjug wrote:
>> *Kurland, you are my HERO! *
Gosh, thanks!
> Yes, as one who loves violence and cruelty, I agree. Scott is my hero,
> too. Scott, when I am settled in my new location I will contact you.
> Would you like a job inflicting pain on others?
Yes.
> I can arrange in
> advance for them to menace you so you wont have to feel any
> unnecessary guilt.
No problem, I’m a sociopath. Resume and references available on request.
Remind me never to go riding on Red River. Ever. Now everybody on a unicycle is a target.
Though my sentiments are right there with you, your solution to the problem, though immediately satisfying, leaves the problem still roving the countryside. . . and pissed off.
What you do on or with your unicycle, as there are so few of us, will reflect on all other unicyclists. Try to do the right thing.
Maybe the guy got scared or beat up by a clown as a child and already had a grudge to bear against anyone riding a unicycle. Maybe next time he’ll think twice about harassing someone on a unicycle.
johnfoss wrote:
> Scott Kurland wrote:
>> Guess where the wheel hit him.
> Remind me never to go riding on Red River. Ever. Now everybody on a
> unicycle is a target.
Okay, never ever go riding on Red River, you’ll be a target just like I
apparently was.
>
> Though my sentiments are right there with you, your solution to the
> problem, though immediately satisfying, leaves the problem still
> roving the countryside. . . and pissed off.
Not for at least a month, actually. I didn’t leave him pissed off, John; I
left him broken and scared, leaking fluids (like, as a G-rated example,
tears).
Are you suggesting I should’ve killed him instead? It crossed my mind…
drivers don’t see it, but an SUV is way deadlier than a gun… threatening
me with his vehicle was just as bad - worse - than waving a knife or gun
around. You do understand that he attacked me with a deadly weapon with
no provocation, right? Missed me by inches on purpose while screaming at me,
while I was in the middle of a bike lane? Blocked the bike lane and got out
of his car to fuck me up? Sure, he erred, but he was a big strong tough guy,
a bully - there are plenty of people he could’ve beaten for their insolence,
for daring to be weird.
>
> What you do on or with your unicycle, as there are so few of us, will
> reflect on all other unicyclists. Try to do the right thing.
I did.
–
Make a searching and fearless moral self-inventory. Admit to yourself
and to another human the exact nature of your wrongs. List the people
you have harmed. Make direct amends to such people wherever possible,
except when to do so would injure them or others. Continue to take
personal inventory and when wrong promptly admit it.
In article <johnfoss.m934o@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
johnfoss <johnfoss.m934o@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)Scott Kurland wrote:
)> Guess where the wheel hit him.
) Remind me never to go riding on Red River. Ever. Now everybody on a
)unicycle is a target.
)
)Though my sentiments are right there with you, your solution to the
)problem, though immediately satisfying, leaves the problem still
)roving the countryside. . . and pissed off.
Two things:
1: My impression was that hitting the guy with the Coker was
accidental.
2: I totally disagree that “everybody on a unicycle is
a target” because of this incident, or incidents like it, any more
than that every person in a car is a target because of the actions
of the initial idiot. When I have gotten into arguments with
drivers (always on a bike, so far), I have almost always gotten
great support from the other drivers around. Did the encounters
wind up educating the idiot? Perhaps not. But something has made
cycling on the roads in the US easier over the past 20 years, and
I doubt it was that cyclists accepted dangerous abuse.
Definitely not recommending to accept abuse. Just thinking the legal system might be a bit better approach than “you miss me, I hit you.”
Take the guy’s license number to the police and report the attempted homicide. I know, bikes don’t get much respect in these types of matters, but then at least you have the law on your side. If the guy gets prosecuted, it hurts him in the wallet, or even with some community service or jail time.
From Scott’s description, sounds like the confrontation went beyond a simple crotch dismount. Sure would have been fun to watch, but I understand why he doesn’t, and don’t expect Scott to go into detail.
In article <johnfoss.m95oa@timelimit.unicyclist.com>,
johnfoss <johnfoss.m95oa@timelimit.unicyclist.com> wrote:
)
)Tom Holub wrote:
)> cycling on the roads in the US easier over the past 20 years, and I
)> doubt it was that cyclists accepted dangerous abuse.
) Definitely not recommending to accept abuse. Just thinking the legal
)system might be a bit better approach than “you miss me, I hit you.”
)
)Take the guy’s license number to the police and report the attempted
)homicide. I know, bikes don’t get much respect in these types of
)matters, but then at least you have the law on your side. If the guy
)gets prosecuted, it hurts him in the wallet, or even with some community
)service or jail time.
Zero chance. You’ll be laughed at. The only way you’ll get anywhere
is if you claim he looked drunk.
-Tom
